Author Topic: DT is going to partner with MySpace (Read 20258 times)

py · « **on:** October 21, 2008, 14:28 »

Original post from Achilles can be found here:

http://www.dreamstime.com/thread_11224

travismanley · « **Reply #1 on:** October 21, 2008, 15:08 »

Sounds interesting.

I hope its worth it.

lisafx · « **Reply #2 on:** October 21, 2008, 15:17 »

Sounds exciting! Thanks for posting here

leaf · « **Reply #3 on:** October 21, 2008, 15:36 »

well it certainly sounds like an exciting venture. I have to admit though that 6 cents sounds like a piddly amount, however I will try and hold off on my judgments until I actually see how it pans out. I realize that if someone is paying $5.00 for royalty free use, if they only get a once off use for a card then 6 cents might be about right, and it is probably better than one extended license in the long run ... and myspace has a crazy amount of members. Let's hope this turns out to be a profitable

litifeta · « **Reply #4 on:** October 21, 2008, 19:36 »

Who on MySpace is going to order 10,000 cards?

I like the way these publishers sell things with high end numbers and "potential earnings".

The real issue is how much is the price of the card, and the return to the photographer. The fee should be 5% of the retail price of the card. Sounds like everyone is getting their chop except the person who made the image.

madelaide · « **Reply #5 on:** October 21, 2008, 19:52 »

I agree with Litifeta, these novelties always come with big numbers that are not likely to ever occur (like in that poster site with FT). I would like to know the price of each card, then I can make a judgement.

Regards,
Adelaide

Sean Locke Photography · « **Reply #6 on:** October 21, 2008, 20:06 »

Quote from: travismanley on October 21, 2008, 15:08

Sounds interesting.

I hope its worth it.

Doubt it. Sounds too complicated.

vonkara · « **Reply #7 on:** October 21, 2008, 20:20 »

Nothing on the Myspace forums yet? It sound like another feature added to the million already pop-oping everywhere on myspace

litifeta · « **Reply #8 on:** October 21, 2008, 21:27 »

The issue I have with these half-witted deals is the agencies are charging to be artist's agents, and are not doing their job.

They take the best slice of the action, and then only make decisions on profit based on the good of the agency, not the artists.

They are SUPPOSED to be out there getting the best deal for us, not them. And whenever you suggest they are not good at their job you get some dunce coming back with "it is our business model" blah blah blah, or "this is not a democracy".

Pixart · « **Reply #9 on:** October 22, 2008, 00:07 »

Out of the millions resgistered, how many are active, and out of those, how many are over 18 and have a credit card, and out of those, how many would buy greeting cards on the Internet? I guess we'll have to see how MySpace presents it. Do they sell anything else like Flickr has the books and moo cards?

BrokenPhotographer · « **Reply #10 on:** October 22, 2008, 06:00 »

I sell my images as greeting cards on RedBubble and make a lot more, potentially I can see a tiny trickle of pennies from this but MySpace isn't that popular amongst the young folk anymore, they are all using facebook these days. The 0.06 is just too low really.

hali · « **Reply #11 on:** October 22, 2008, 09:13 »

i agree with litifeta and adelaide.
sounds like a half ass idea. myspace , facebook,etc... are full of immature ppl with no intention of anything other than showing off their own snapshots.
it's just another hair brained scheme to reduce our images to the price of ice water.
still, i paid 2 bucks for a plastic bottle of ice water. i wish our images are paid 2 bucks at least.

py · « **Reply #12 on:** October 24, 2008, 19:18 »

Achilles has provided more info so you may want to check out the thread on DT again.

louoates · « **Reply #13 on:** October 24, 2008, 21:52 »

I like this concept and see no downside to participate. I assume we'll get an email from DT explaining how to "sign up".

I'm extremely pleased with DT's sales results the last few months. At this rate it will shortly surpass both SS and IS for my images. Whatever they're doing to drive sales is working beautifully. I am much more open to this MySpace concept because of DT's proven sales ability.

lisafx · « **Reply #14 on:** October 25, 2008, 09:07 »

Well said Lou. I agree on all counts.

If you are already signed in to affiliate programs then you are automatically signed in to this program too. I believe to opt out you need to opt out of affiliates altogether.

louoates · « **Reply #15 on:** October 25, 2008, 09:58 »

lisafx,
I checked and I am opted in for affiliates. I think that is the default there unless you check the "opt out" box in the management section.

Pixart · « **Reply #16 on:** October 25, 2008, 12:02 »

This might be a chance for travel, landscape and flower photos that are generally overlooked because they are too "stockish" to sell.

What happens to a photo level if it has one or several of these type of sales?

Sure 6 cents sounds low, but it's hard to compare this deal to Red Bubble where you create your own layouts, set your own prices and have RB host, print and ship. I expect that there's at least 4 parties taking a piece of this deal:

1. Us. We provide the artwork.
2. DT. Represents the artwork. Collects royalties, distributes them.
3. MySpace. Hosting, marketing, credit card processing, shiping.
4. Outside printing house.

madelaide · « **Reply #17 on:** October 25, 2008, 12:27 »

Pixart,

Most print/poster sites either let you set the price or have their own, in any case you receive a % of the total price or of your mark-up price. That's why I asked how much a card will cost. If it costs US$1, then 6c - or 6% - not good, but not so bad either. If it costs US$5, then these 6c mean less than 1% - too little. Which is a similar discussion as we previously had about Bilderking with FT.

Achilles clarified my question about a large order (that is, if someone orders for instance a 100 copies of the same card):

Quote

In regards to the program, considering this is consumer oriented, it's unlikely that a person will order 100 cards, they are not designers. If he/she does, you will get 100 times the royalty, of course.

I don't think this is so unlikely (maybe not 100, but many), if someone decides to make his own customized Xmas card, but it's good to know we receive for the package the same as many individual sales.

Does anyone here have a MySpace account? It would be interesting to know how they offer it on their side.

Regards,
Adelaide

stormchaser · « **Reply #18 on:** October 25, 2008, 13:16 »

Quote from: Pixart on October 25, 2008, 12:02

This might be a chance for travel, landscape and flower photos that are generally overlooked because they are too "stockish" to sell.

Well, DT would have to accept the image first, and we all know how they feel about flower photos.

As the mindset of the MySpace people is "everything on the web should be free", I really don't see this going anywhere except for some aggregate income for DT. You know they will take their cut. Some contributors might get a few cents.

madelaide · « **Reply #19 on:** October 25, 2008, 13:32 »

Achilles said beta-test will begin with illustrations. He also said:

Quote

Don't expect the rules for submissions to change in any way. Don't submit finished designs, they will be refused. Our partners will be looking into visual content for their designs, not into finished materials.

I think I didn't get exactly how cards will be created. It seems they will use our images, but not directly? Who will design the cards? I'm confused.

Regards,
Adelaide

cathyslife · « **Reply #20 on:** October 25, 2008, 13:58 »

I checked and I am opted in for affiliates.

I checked and I only see a button for Alliances. Is that the right place to opt in or out?

BrokenPhotographer · « **Reply #21 on:** October 25, 2008, 14:39 »

I'm ashamed to admit it, but I have a Myspace account so when it goes through I'll happily test it out and find out what I can.

takestock · « **Reply #22 on:** October 25, 2008, 17:24 »

Quote from: cclapper on October 25, 2008, 13:58

I checked and I am opted in for affiliates.

I checked and I only see a button for Alliances. Is that the right place to opt in or out?

That's the place OK!

cathyslife · « **Reply #23 on:** October 25, 2008, 17:33 »

thanks takestock!

madelaide · « **Reply #24 on:** June 18, 2009, 16:51 »

Old thread, but there was an update today at DT:

http://www.dreamstime.com/forumm_11224_pg7

Quote

Update: this program has taken longer than we anticipated and is not yet running at full speed, but several partners distributing our content reported good sales. Starting next week, we will add royalties to all photographers who had their content selected in the initial phase and made sales.

Some have seen very good sales, with the record of an image that got printed on 1,589 greeting cards, orderd by 1053 individuals (an image of a tree). Many others had a single file ordered.

We will do our best to send an email as soon as the revenue is added to your accounts (most probably throughout the upcoming week).

leaf · « **Reply #25 on:** June 18, 2009, 17:11 »

thanks for the update

Karimala · « **Reply #26 on:** June 18, 2009, 17:14 »

I wonder if this is why I suddenly earned $30 today without any sales to show for it.

madelaide · « **Reply #27 on:** June 18, 2009, 17:18 »

Karimala,

According to what Achilles said, no payments have been done on this program. It seems you have something else happening on your side.

gostwyck · « **Reply #28 on:** June 18, 2009, 17:21 »

It sounds like we might have a few $'s coming our way. Hope so!

Karimala __ Earnings for this aren't coming out until next week according to the announcement. There are appears to be another delay on standard sales showing up.

stockastic · « **Reply #29 on:** June 18, 2009, 17:42 »

6 cents. People, listen to yourselves. 6 cents for an image suitable for a greeting card.

It's the Microstock Death March. Next stop, zero.

JerryL5 · « **Reply #30 on:** June 18, 2009, 18:02 »

Quote from: stockastic on June 18, 2009, 17:42

6 cents. People, listen to yourselves. 6 cents for an image suitable for a greeting card.

It's the Microstock Death March. Next stop, zero.

No. That 6 cents means you will get $600 instead of $25 for the same sale.
We can live with that.

Karimala · « **Reply #31 on:** June 18, 2009, 18:06 »

Yes...I know...I read that, too. But I couldn't help and wonder if maybe they were getting a head start. It's not every day $30 mysteriously ends up in your account!

madelaide · « **Reply #32 on:** June 18, 2009, 18:23 »

It's 6 cents per print, not per image. As I said before, I would like to know how much they charge for the print.

stockastic · « **Reply #33 on:** June 18, 2009, 18:39 »

Unless someone is sending out Christmas cards or graduation announcements, or party invitations - it's 6 cents.

Pheby · « **Reply #34 on:** June 18, 2009, 18:48 »

Quote from: Karimala on June 18, 2009, 17:14

I wonder if this is why I suddenly earned $30 today without any sales to show for it.

I had that today aswell - but it wasn't $30, it was $0.4!

That seems to have happened at DT before, last time the sale was visible in the list of downloaded files next day.

JerryL5 · « **Reply #35 on:** June 18, 2009, 20:35 »

Quote from: stockastic on June 18, 2009, 18:39

Unless someone is sending out Christmas cards or graduation announcements, or party invitations - it's 6 cents.

You would have to go and make sense. I hate when that happens..

cthoman · « **Reply #36 on:** June 24, 2009, 09:42 »

I think I got one of these partner sales. I received this email this morning:

We're pleased to let you know that one or more of your files was sold via offline means.
The content was used on one of the partner sites announced in the consumer-oriented alliance:
http://www.dreamstime.com/thread_11224

Image ID: 2295049
Royalties: $1.09

PixelBytes · « **Reply #37 on:** June 24, 2009, 10:54 »

Quote from: cthoman on June 24, 2009, 09:42

I think I got one of these partner sales. I received this email this morning:

We're pleased to let you know that one or more of your files was sold via offline means.
The content was used on one of the partner sites announced in the consumer-oriented alliance:
http://www.dreamstime.com/thread_11224

Image ID: 2295049
Royalties: $1.09

I got one of those today too for $6.70. Very nice little bonus. Hope they accelerate

cthoman · « **Reply #38 on:** June 24, 2009, 11:08 »

Quote from: PixelBytes on June 24, 2009, 10:54

I got one of those today too for $6.70. Very nice little bonus. Hope they accelerate

It's good to see that that the royalties are more than a few pennies. Does anybody know how to track these earnings in our stats?

madelaide · « **Reply #39 on:** June 24, 2009, 16:48 »

Quote from: cthoman on June 24, 2009, 11:08

It's good to see that that the royalties are more than a few pennies.

It depends on how much they sold the image use for. If someone purchased a U$100 canvas print, US$6 is not much.

rene · « **Reply #40 on:** June 25, 2009, 02:14 »

Quote from: cthoman on June 24, 2009, 09:42

I think I got one of these partner sales. I received this email this morning:

We're pleased to let you know that one or more of your files was sold via offline means.
The content was used on one of the partner sites announced in the consumer-oriented alliance:
http://www.dreamstime.com/thread_11224

Image ID: 2295049
Royalties: $1.09

They never clearly explain their earning system. $1.09 for what? 18.16 post cards ($1.09/0.06)?
They have to pay for every word in the email?

Phil · « **Reply #41 on:** June 25, 2009, 16:32 »

I must have missed this announcement, I see it was months ago.

I think I'm getting too cynical with new stuff the agencies do. There really isnt a lot of information given and for some reason the announcement just jumps out at me as sales / marketing speak with build up a little bit of info but ignore all the details (and bad parts). In particular nowhere has it been mentioned what these cards sell for? anyone know?

Just getting that feeling that we are being screwed yet again, hopefully I'm wrong.

$0.06 cents concerns me, somehow I think these cards are more than $0.20-$0.30

and fair enough there is the cost of printing but greetingcarduniverse.com (anyone use them) can pay $0.56 on a $2.79 card

madelaide · « **Reply #42 on:** June 25, 2009, 16:54 »

If someone here has a MySpace account, probably he has access to the prices charged there?

However, it will not be easy to correlate earnings in DT with sales price in MS, if I understood it right. You can not say if the $1.09 refers to selling one, ten or 100 cards.

Phil · « **Reply #43 on:** June 25, 2009, 23:12 »

created a myspace account, cant find it anywhere just dozens of send free ecard stuff

Phil · « **Reply #44 on:** June 30, 2009, 15:50 »

seems to be the program of mystery. somewhere in the deep recesses of myspace lays a card marking program where some people can buy cards...

no response on DT forums as to where this is found

Achilles · « **Reply #45 on:** July 01, 2009, 06:48 »

I don't really see these questions in our forum, but would gladly respond. The royalties per printed copy (users don't get the digital file but a greeting card) are published in my initial post for this announcement: around $0.06-0.07 per printed copy.

Whenever contributors got more than just a few cents, it means that the image was printed several times. By the same buyer (mailing a greeting card to 5 friends for example) or by several different buyers (and we made the total when adding the royalties).

The price they pay for the postcard/greeting card is around a few dollars (includes printing and mail fees). This is not a canvas-like product (expensive) nor a redistributing deal (where users are ordering postcards to resell them). It's simply a program where one can mail a postcard to his friend(s).

I will post this on our forum as well, may help others.

cthoman · « **Reply #46 on:** July 01, 2009, 08:57 »

So, how do we find it on MySpace? I couldn't find it either. Also, how are the earnings reported in our statistics?

rene · « **Reply #47 on:** July 01, 2009, 09:50 »

Quote from: Achilles on July 01, 2009, 06:48

I don't really see these questions in our forum, but would gladly respond.

I'm afraid tat you have missed these questions in this forum too. I can help you. The questions from Phil are just above your post.

Quote from: Phil on June 25, 2009, 23:12

created a myspace account, cant find it anywhere just dozens of send free ecard stuff

Quote from: Phil on June 30, 2009, 15:50

seems to be the program of mystery. somewhere in the deep recesses of myspace lays a card marking program where some people can buy cards...

madelaide · « **Reply #48 on:** July 01, 2009, 09:56 »

Hi Achilles,

Thanks for replying.

I think it is clear from the start how much we will earn. What I would like to know is how much each of these cards (or whatever other print options there are) cost. I mean, I get 6c for a card, but how much did the buyer pay for it? That's a way of knowing if this is a fair deal or not.

Of course there are print costs involved, etc, but just as a comparison, a greeting card in Zazzle earns me 30c.

cthoman · « **Reply #49 on:** July 01, 2009, 10:54 »

Quote from: rene on July 01, 2009, 09:50

I'm afraid tat you have missed these questions in this forum too. I can help you. The questions from Phil are just above your post.

I'm glad someone else thought this was funny too.

It is great that they come here to answer questions though.

timburton · « **Reply #50 on:** July 01, 2009, 23:38 »

interesting news

Phil · « **Reply #51 on:** July 02, 2009, 00:22 »

I asked again in dt forums and Achilles answered that we would have to ask Myspace where it is and that it is not available as yet to all users.

Achilles · « **Reply #52 on:** July 02, 2009, 03:37 »

Thanks Phil, I missed that question indeed.
@Madelaide: the price they pay, my post above mentions it. Price per card is around a few dollars (the exact value slightly varies due to currency, this deal is Europe-based). That includes print costs, mailing fees etc.
The royalty value is very good, as we've won this account whilst competing with the content leader for this industry (can't name it for obvious reasons). The diversity we provide made the difference, not the royalty, which stayed close to the one they initially charged.

Phil · « **Reply #54 on:** July 02, 2009, 06:26 »

Thankyou Achilles for coming back and answering questions. I too had missed the pricing in your previous post.

Sorry but $0.06 on a card worth a few dollars is between 2% and 3% commission. On pure principle I do not wish to be involved in any program that pays the artist 2-3%.

(You mentioned on DT forum that it is around 50% of DT's share if so then Dt get around $0.12 or 5%??. I dont feel this is high enough. I looked around and didnt find anywhere that paid less than 10% commission. zazzle is around $0.30 and greetingcarduniverse $0.56 on a $2.79 card (for small numbers drops as order size grows as the card price drops).

sorry seems extremely unimpressive. I also must say I dislike the way it was initially presented as well. It made me distrustful as soon as I saw it last week and feel it was used car sales tactics of smoke and mirrors to hide facts.

cthoman · « **Reply #55 on:** July 02, 2009, 12:35 »

Yeah, I just opted mine out as well. That does seem like a pretty low royalty and all the mystery around the program doesn't really help either. I'll wait until we get all the details and then make a decision instead of the other way around.

Phil · « **Reply #56 on:** July 02, 2009, 16:43 »

unfortunately it is opt out of all partner programs, and I dont know how to tell what this is worth. I have asked for the option to opt out of just this program but dont know what the chances will be.

Achilles · « **Reply #57 on:** July 03, 2009, 04:58 »

If you just compare the royalties to the end price, they are as you said.
But if you remove print costs + mailing taxes (making most of the sale), you will understand that the margin of the distributing partner is as low as ours.

If you compare this program with the P-EL license, the royalty is much higher. The fact that is a small figure shouldn't worry anyone that knows what microstock is about. Volume is key in such partnerships. Overall, the stock industry has a few million buyers. This new program targets hundreds of millions of users. It's the long tail that defines such partnerships and what brought Dreamstime where it currently is.
But of course, no one is forced to participate in such programs. It's up to you to opt-out should you wish to.

To answer your question on Dreamstime's share, I confirm that Dreamstime makes the same as the photographer (for non exclusives) and less (for exclusives).

And in regards to its mistery, I can't see where that is. I've answered all your questions, isn't that so?

Phil · « **Reply #58 on:** July 03, 2009, 07:02 »

Hi, once again thankyou Achilles.

I didnt wish to imply you were being dishonest when saying artist is getting 50% of DT's share. rereading my post I see it comes across this way and for that I apologise.

re Mystery - it isnt possible to find except for certain people, searching myspace turned up nothing. The way it was presented was in comparison to the p-el licence but little actual figures. (and I missed the sale price your previous post here)

Personally I would have been happier if it was presented along the lines we have created a partner program with myspace etc Dreamstime gets 5% of the sale of which artists get 50% which is $0.06, we would have liked more but this is high volume sales etc. But you know your artists better than I and maybe I am in the minority for rather having it this way (I've come across a number of bad deals at artists expense in past 6-12 months (not by DT

and maybe I am just getting sensitive to how things are presented)

I think it is disapointing how little DT managed to get when comparing to similar priced cards, but thats easy to say when you are not part of the negotiations

Anyway I will wait and see how it turns out.

thanks again
Phil

cthoman · « **Reply #59 on:** July 03, 2009, 09:08 »

I didn't mean to be insulting either and I definitely appreciate the time you take to answer our questions. As far as the mystery, I think Phil covered that. I was really hoping to see the program in action. Check it all out with my own eyes and maybe even order a card.

gaja · « **Reply #60 on:** July 03, 2009, 10:08 »

Thank you for providing the clear numbers. I don't think they are so bad, considering the price of postage and printing. I have never tried any of the other card printing buisnesses, but I kind of think comparing with those is like comparing micro and macro.

But hey, what do I know, I have none of these sales. Hoping to get some, though.

puravida · « **Reply #61 on:** July 03, 2009, 10:41 »

Quote from: Phil on July 02, 2009, 06:26

Thankyou Achilles for coming back and answering questions. I too had missed the pricing in your previous post.

Sorry but $0.06 on a card worth a few dollars is between 2% and 3% commission. On pure principle I do not wish to be involved in any program that pays the artist 2-3%.

(You mentioned on DT forum that it is around 50% of DT's share if so then Dt get around $0.12 or 5%??. I dont feel this is high enough. I looked around and didnt find anywhere that paid less than 10% commission. zazzle is around $0.30 and greetingcarduniverse $0.56 on a $2.79 card (for small numbers drops as order size grows as the card price drops).

sorry seems extremely unimpressive. I also must say I dislike the way it was initially presented as well. It made me distrustful as soon as I saw it last week and feel it was used car sales tactics of smoke and mirrors to hide facts.

What smoke and mirrors? We don't sell used car sales . You must mean the DT rank game, a good diversion , no? What next? Dating Services ? That will be cool ! We get credits to pick up women, or men instead of cash ! ( Outright sacarsm here Achilles!)

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Author Topic: DT is going to partner with MySpace (Read 20258 times)

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